Copyright Polygon
With October coming to a close, Game of the Year season is nearly upon us. Soon enough, players will be arguing over which of 2025’s games deserves to cement its place in the history books. While that can be a fun debate in a wide open year, 2025’s top contenders (at least as the awards circuit goes) feel like too much of a foregone conclusion to get too worked up about. Yeah yeah, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Hollow Knight: Silksong, we know. That’s not the race I’m invested in this year, because there’s a much tougher question to tackle: What’s the best video game soundtrack of the year? Even with two months still to go, 2025 has already been fantastic for video game music. From the biggest Sony productions down to the most niche of indies, we’ve gotten a class of original scores and soundtracks that would make any shortlist look insufficient. It will be especially difficult for this year’s Game Awards to capture it all, with the category bound to be dominated by obvious frontrunners like Clair Obscur, Mario Kart World, and Hades 2. Some top-tier soundtracks are bound to be overlooked. So come dig through the virtual crates with us as we pull out some of the best video game soundtracks of 2025 that deserve as much attention as the obvious cuts. That way, you too can take on the persona of a record store snob come December. Oh, Ghost of Yōtei? That’s sooooo mainstream. South of Midnight Even if South of Midnight’s gameplay isn’t your cup of tea, it’s hard to argue with its artistry. A perfectly executed stop-motion art style and a dense audio soundscape made up of real field recordings from the American South already make it one of the year’s most remarkable works of craft, but its music is where it really impresses. Paying tribute to the music and culture of Louisiana, the original score hops between rustic folk and grand orchestral pieces. Twangy guitars and banjos evoke the real bayou where the story is set, giving South of Midnight’s music a texture that’s seldom heard in video games. It even includes a few full-on musical numbers that serve as the backdrop for its biggest moments, revealing local folklore through song. It’s a staggering accomplishment that deserves its flowers. The Midnight Walk For a game like The Midnight Walk to work, atmosphere is paramount. The stop-motion adventure game has a dark whimsy to it, making for a creepy-cute fairy tale that has an eeriness underneath its magic. Joel Bille and Bortre Rymden’s original score is the key ingredient that seals that tone. Haunting woodwinds, deep brass, and classical violins weave around meditative piano parts to create some of the most evocative compositions you’ll hear in a game this year. Morose and sparse, The Midnight Walk features the kind of memorable sounds that rarely get their due in Best Music conversations that tend to be dominated by maximalist orchestral scores. Rift of the Necrodancer It’s a little strange that rhythm games rarely get their due in music categories considering that, well, music is kind of their whole thing. Rift of the Necrodancer will likely be the shining example of that strange dynamic come awards season. The Crypt of the Necrodancer spinoff is filled with adrenaline-pumping electro-jams built to take advantage of the game’s unique Guitar Hero-inspired beat-matching action. Strong beats, funky basslines, and squelching synths give Necrodancer’s (still growing) collection of songs a sort of Halloween rave vibe. With earworm melodies that are easy to commit to memory, turning notes into confident attacks, Rift of the Necrodancer’s soundtrack is still pumping in my skull months after the last time I loaded it up. Keep Driving Soundtracks filled with licensed music don’t tend to get celebrated as much as original scores, but Keep Driving proves the power of careful curation. In the road trip RPG, you play as a rebellious teen in the 2000s who decides to take a cross-country drive to a music festival one summer. In order to capture the spirit of the era, developer YCJY Games put together a soundtrack of over 50 songs that perfectly mirror the game’s youthful, free-wheeling energy. Punk rock anthems from the likes of Westkust and Fucking Werewolf Asso nail what it feels like to rocket down a highway in a beat up clunker that’s barely holding together. And if you want another game that gets that same punk attitude right this year, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage’s riot grrrl soundtrack is a spirited blast of mid-90s energy. Bionic Bay The best music in a video game isn't always what stands out the most. Sometimes it's what's barely noticed at all. Such is the case for the soundtrack to Bionic Bay, a precision-based puzzler platformer in which you navigate a series of massive derelict structures, violating several laws of physics in the process. Its moody collection of synth-scapes mirrors the music you'd hear at a sunrise waterfront yoga session or in the chillout room of a rave. It's present, yes, but subdued enough as background music to let your mind wander — to make you realize how big the universe really is, how small you are by comparison, but how despite that fact, you can still have a meaningful impact on the way things work. Though it doesn't have a single lyric, there's a message tucked away in Bionic Bay's soundtrack: You matter.—Ari Notis Wheel World In the serene Wheel World, you ride around a scenic countryside participating in breezy bicycle races. You can practically feel the wind blowing in your hair as you play. To emphasize that feeling, developer Messhof put together an original soundtrack filled with dreamy electro-pop courtesy of artists under the Italians Do It Better record label. Shimmering synth bops from the likes of Johnny Jewel, Orion, and Joon turn your everyday bike rides into transcendent experiences, almost spiritual in nature (fitting considering Wheel World’s ghostly undertones). It’s a special kind of game soundtrack that will make you feel like you’re soaring. Promise Mascot Agency Promise Mascot Agency is unlike anything I’ve ever played, so it only stands to reason that its music should be equally unique. To capture the misfit vibe of the open-world mascot management sim card-battler, Ryo Koike and Alpha Chrome Yayo’s original soundtrack puts forth an eclectic collection of jazzy compositions with a bit of J-Pop flair. From the airy pop of Tanuki Beat to the wailing guitar riffs in the spooky Touched by Death, it's an ever-changing set of songs that never stays on one idea for very long, but still feels entirely cohesive. That’s fitting for a genre-hopping game that has you flipping between card battles against broken vending machines and political debates with the town’s crooked mayor. Deltarune Chapters 3 + 4 Deltarune’s soundtrack is full of bangers as a whole, but June 2025’s release of Chapters 3 + 4 merit special mention. Centered around a game show, Chapter 3 is a sentimental journey through 8- and 16-bit video games, replete with chiptune bangers. In Chapter 4, the proceedings veer more toward the prophetic and somber, with broody orchestral vibes to match. There are fewer homages here, and more unique time signatures and sound palettes. Composed by writer and director Toby Fox, the soundtrack hops between genres and moods at a rapid pace. No tracks overstay their welcome, and you certainly won’t get bored with this one. —Jen Glennon To a T
